The Prank War
by Wingsman
Summary: Hermes has gotten a punishment from Zeus.
1. Prologue

**(Mt. Olympus)**

**(Prologue: The Punishment)**

**(Zeus and Hermes)**

I gazed out the window from my throne one afternoon in early summer. I was bored and had nothing to do. Mt. Olympus stretched out before me tucked away in its cloudy embrace atop of New York City.

My wife, Hera, entered the room. She said", You know, Zeus, if you are bored, go and do something."

I turned to her in a half disinterested manner and asked, "Like what?"

Hera's mouth twisted up at the corner, "You should entertain yourself."

"Why would I do that?" I asked her. This made no sense to me.

"For amusement." Hera clarified herself. Her tall frame cocooned in her white made quite an impact on anyone who saw her.

She, like several others often thought I did not have anything that resembled the need to entertain or be entertained. In other words, I had no sense of humor or understood the concept of it.

As if reading my mind, she said out loud, "You should get a sense of humor, like Poseidon." She suggested, referring to my brother. "He would not be bored."

Saying this casually, she went on her way out of the area.

I had no time to ponder what she had told me because just then, any thoughts I was having were interrupted by a distant and thunderous sound.

I decided I would deal with her departing words later as I heard a loud boom and suddenly, the quiet of a second ago vanished completely to be replaced by chaos!

The lord of Time, Kronos, my father, erupted with his army in Central Park, through the door of Orpheus, a passageway down to my other brother, Hades's, kingdom to engage in his favorite pastime of always trying to be one up on him.

"Hades!" I bellowed, my voice booming through the air.

He appeared in front of me in that instant.

"Why?!" I demanded in a heated voice. "Why did you allow Father's army through?!"

He looked confused and asked if I had gotten his message to block the door.

A message? This was the first I'd heard of it.

I apologized for the accusation though as usual, I harbored no regret about accusing him. We were forever in squabbles.

He bowed and departed without another word. I was pretty sure he would take a turn at me soon.

I summoned Hermes in front of me. Hermes was talking to one of his snakes when he came before me.

I asked him quite plainly if Hades had given him a message to be given to me.

"Oh, this one?" Hermes, suited as always as if ready to take off at second's notice(which of course, he was) suddenly asked me and pulled out a black scroll from the little bag at his side.

He passed it to me and I read it. It was just as Hades had said it would be; it was telling me to block the door of Orpheus today. But, the date on the message was two days ago.

"Why did you give this to me before now?!" I thundered angrily and lighting flashed and thunder boomed all around!

Hermes tried not to flinch, but I was not fooled. He had become afraid.

"Sorry, father." He was quick to tell me. "I was busy the past two days and meant to get it to you."

"Doing what?!" I wanted to know.

"Answering messages." He answered truthfully. His snakes curled up on his caduceus that he held in his hand, obviously rattled by me as well.

"Your punishment for not getting me this all important letter is to judge…" I thought for a second to come up with something I felt would be severe enough and let make my anger make the decision.

Then, I remembered Hera's departing words to me from a few moments ago. I had all but forgotten it until now. Truthfully, it didn't seem really severe on first thought. But, since she had told me to find a sense of humor and to entertain myself, I felt this was a just decision to hand out to my son.

I began again to speak and announced, "Hermes, I will let you go this time. If you fail to give me another message, I will come up with something very severe!" I assured him sternly. "This time, you are to go judge Camp Half Blood's Prank War!"

I had obviously confused him. For a moment, he didn't seem to be able to respond at all.

Finally, finding his voice, he asked, "What Prank War/? What's that, father?"

I told him quite seriously that since his mother had told me to get a sense of humor, I was going to let Dionysus and Chiron host the Prank War. But, since you've gotten yourself in trouble with me, you shall take Chiron's place. You will go there tonight for one week. You will still have to travel while there. And stay out of the sky. Do you understand?"

He only bowed before me before leaving.

My only thoughts in that moment were to tell Chiron that Hermes would be taking his place as my decision and to tell Hera what I had done.

I used the little round golden drachma coin and contacted. Making a rainbow, I prayed to the Goddess Iris of Rainbows and tossed the drachma into its spectrum of colors.

"Camp Half Blood" I requested.

The centaur Chiron, the activities director of Camp Half Blood's face appeared before me in that instant. His scraggly beard was unmistakable, his brownish black hair curly and circling his head strong strands all around.

I called out to Chiron.

He turned with wild eyes and cried out in disbelief! He bowed and murmured a few blessings, then asked me what I was 'IM'ing about to him.

I told him what I told Hermes. He nodded and I knew he had rushed off to tell another son of mine, Dionysus.

I cut the connection and rushed off to find Hera. This was going to be a great week.


	2. Hermes & the Contest

Chapter One

**(Camp Half Blood)**

**Nico di Angelo  
**

I love camp. You can walk up from the Underworld and walk straight to camp in under fifteen minutes.

Anyway, since I had more important things on my mind at the moment, I wasn't in the mood to be hearing bad news.

But, then my cousin, Percy Jackson, ran up from the Big House and had a grim expression on his face.

"Nico," he said half-heartedly, "Get ready. We're going to have a visitor tonight. One of the Gods.

Since I had no idea who it could be and my mind was still on the praise I'd just gotten from my father for retrieving his Stone of Memories, I didn't answer for a minute.

When I did, it was to say, "What are you talking about?"

With features that consisted of ink black hair and ocean blue eyes, Percy was quite a sight to anyone.

Now, with his sour face, he repeated his message and added, "It could be your father. All Chiron said was that Zeus had 'IM'ed him that a God will be visiting us tonight to start a weekly event.

* * *

(That night)

"To the Gods!" Chiron roared and pounded his goblet on the table.

Then, we all got up and marched toward the square shaped, fiery brazier. Everyone started scraping up a portion of their meal and letting it land into the fire as we each chanted a God's name.

When his turn came, Percy scraped some brisket into the flames and murmured "Poseidon."

I was next and I scraped some salmon into the flames and muttered quietly, "Hades."

As we each finished and returned to our seats and we concluded this ritual to thank the Gods for our meal by giving them some of it from our own plates, Chiron called for us to come to order.

"Attention!" he directed sharply. "As some of you know, I said this morning that we would two the Gods present. One, of course, is Mr. D who is with us every night. The other is maybe an unknown figure to a few of you. May I introduce Lord Hermes!" he declared in a loud and clear voice.

The fire seemed to stand up straight as the flagpoles as a figure walked out of it at that moment.

He was maybe twenty-five with curly, bland hair and deep, dark blue attire. His Reeboks had wings on either side. He was holding a caduceus in his hand, his slender fingers curled around it. His two snakes, George and Martha, were glancing warily at the crowd that surrounded them.

We all knew who he was and he wasn't really twenty-five. That was just his mortal appearance to fool any non-Greeks. He was really about three thousand years old, actually, though if you didn't know, you could never tell.

I caught my breath as he looked around at us. I had never seen him before. He had a forced smile on his face that made him look like he didn't really want to be here. It made me nervous.

"Well!" Hermes said. His voice wasn't loud or quiet. It was just there. "Does anybody know why, I. Lord Hermes, am staying at your camp for a week?"

His question took us all by surprise and we mentally struggle for what might be the answer.

Finally, somebody in the Hephaestus cabin bravely raised his hand.

"Zeus commanded you here?" he asked tentatively.

Hermes' eyes got dangerously bright as if he was actually offended that he had gotten a response. He hadn't wanted anyone to know why he was here, apparently judging by his reaction.

Finally, he said with his rage seemingly under control and the aforementioned forced smile firmly in place, he said, "Yes, Zeus sent me. I am here to judge your Prank War."

Somebody in the Aphrodite cabin who couldn't help herself, asked incredulously, "What Prank War?"

Campers were nodding and following her lead and asked the same in various voices.

Hermes said, "Hera has demanded that Zeus get a sense of humor."

This unexpected revelation produced a variety of responses ranging from curious looks, confusion, and even a few smirks.

Next to me, Percy muttered, "Zeus couldn't get a sense of humor to save his life."

Had Hermes heard him, I wondered. If he did, he didn't show it.

Instead, he said, "My punishment for not delivering a message from Hades to Zeus in time is to judge your Prank War that will be watched by Zeus from Olympus itself. And now, I will divide you into teams. You will have one week to pull off the most pranks that you can. Individual prizes will be awarded to certain campers. The losing side will be covered in pie and be broadcast to Olympus on Hephaestus- TV."

Everyone knew already what the prize would be; it was always the same coveted item. The golden Laurels were already springing into all our thoughts at once.

Someone else now asked, "Who are the teams?"

Hermes smiled and it was a real smile this time as he responded, "First, we need the Hunters."

* * *

(Still later)

By the time Percy and I tracked down the Hunters of Artemis, it was getting late.

We got back to camp and Hermes was saying, "Ah, the Hunters. Now, we can get on with the teams."

Standing at the front of the room, he called out, "Team One, Zeus…"

"Wait a minute," I interrupted him. "We don't have anybody in the Zeus cabin…at least we don't anymore." I corrected myself.

"Ah," Hermes said. "Zeus had demanded that his daughter, Thalia, represent him just this once since he is hosting it. So, Thalia will be on Zeus Team."

Then he began again. "So, Team One, Zeus Poseidon, Hades, Apollo, Athena, and of course, myself, Hermes."

Cheering erupted from the six cabins!

My own reason for my elation at this news was different. I was included and I felt great that I didn't have to fight Thalia. I was scared of her bronze shield, Aegis and it was a relief to know I wouldn't be facing that.

At the front of the room, Hermes started again.

"Team Two, Ares, Artemis, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Demeter, and leading the team, Dionysus."

The remaining six cabins cheered!

"Now, everybody will be given a horn and there are two types of horns. If you prank somebody, the horn will be sounded and a point will be added to your team's score. Say your name aloud and a point will be added to your individual score. That will be one of the prizes awarded at the end, next week. Good luck, everybody and be sure to listen to your leader which will be myself and Mr. D. Good night, everybody and the Prank War begins….NOW!"

***


	3. Tyson Draws First Blood

Chapter 2

(**Percy Jackson)**

(later)

My brother Tyson and I trotted back to our cabin and decided that we'd better get serious about this because all the other cabins were already meeting about this and deciding what to do. If we didn't come up with something ourselves, we were sure to be up to our necks in pranks and lost this tournament in a hurry!

Tyson being my father's son also meant that he could control water. Being a huge Cyclops meant he could reach high places and put objects in the way of our victims pretty easily. He could make anything out of metal. It would come in handy to help make any instruments that we would need since I did have the same ability.

I took a quick look out the window and around the area and noticed the Ares kids in deep discussion, obviously plotting their moves.

I decided that Ares would be our first target and was about to tell Tyson but apparently, but looking at them now, it looked like Ares was plotting something in our direction.

Instead of telling my brother anything, I glanced around at our friends. They weren't glancing at Hades, because Nico wasn't there. He apparently was off stalking the Artemis cabin.

His sister used to be a Hunter of Artemis so I wasn't surprised that they were his first supposed targets.

I looked past that and found out that the Zeus cabin was empty as well. Past the meadow, Thalia was… standing in between Artemis and Hephaestus and leaning against the Artemis cabin.

I told Tyson to hold our cabin against any pranksters who may already be pouncing on us and took off toward the Artemis cabin.

I noticed that the Ares kids seemed to be divided as I raced past them. Some of them seemed to watching me with curiosity while others were looking back at Tyson. I still couldn't figure out their move.

Once I reached my own destination across the meadow, I panted and looked up. I was a little winded from my exertion and feeling confused.

Thalia and Nico were backed up against the structure. Nico didn't seem like he thought anything was wrong. He was just investigating the hunters. However, Thalia was looking up what seemed like fear.

Then, I looked up myself and realized why she had that expression.

The Hephaestus cabin was constructing a state of the art security system around each of its allies.

There were cameras everywhere, a computer that had buttons that could set off lazars, detonations, bombs, anything they would need. But, most conveniently, they apparently had a dark red button that had the words clearly printed under it.

SELF DESTRUCT was easily readable from where I stood.

The whole set up was so sophisticated and they had put it up so quickly that I had to admit that I was now starting to panic myself. It was beyond pretty good and I tried not to show either my panic or anything that would lead anyone to know how impressed that I was by the whole thing.

Letting my eyes wander to the computer, I noticed something.

Six security camera outlines were filled. The only one remaining empty was… the Poseidon cabin.

It now occurred to me that this was why the Ares kids were spying on us. The Hephaestus group had them spying on us for them while they set up their equipment and quite possibly their traps.

I looked back at our cabin and saw Charles Beckendorf and Jake Mason, two of the Hephaestus kids, sneaking up on Tyson.

Immediately, I yelled at the top of my lungs, "Emergency! Emergency!"

Bewildered by my sudden outburst, Tyson spun around to see Beckendorf clamoring up onto my bed with the security camera already half set up.

Before I even took a step back towards our cabin, Tyson leaped towards the bed and threw Beckendorf, Jake, and all their equipment out the door! His size and command of his actions made this a very easy motion that left our competitors stunned!

We were very wise to keep a supply of Banana crème pies in our home. Tyson threw these sweet confections that came easily to his reach at the Hephaestus cabin. They hit the cabin hard and landed with a huge PLOP! Sound!

I felt elated that Tyson had drew first blood and our team had scored its first points of the tournament! My heart beat more rapidly with each passing second as I considered this first victory that was ours!

Our team's horn sounded and a point was added to our team's total and on the individual board, Tyson took his first marks!

My brother was in the lead at the moment and truly the camp's hero right now.

I didn't have any idea what was coming for us. Obviously due to our scoring first, we had now made ourselves targets for the other teams to retaliate and try and catch up to us.

At the moment, I just wanted to congratulate Tyson on a great point!

I came back over to him and with a big grin that seemed to get bigger by the second, I exclaimed, "Great job, Tyson! We got on the board first!"

Tyson, with his usual enthusiastic personality, replied "Yeah! Peanut Butter group ROCKS!"

Hermes, our councilor, came over first. He said, "Since I'm your councilor, your team only gets one point." His voice was unmistakably elated and the excited tones were easily noticed by all.

The other team started dragging off to their cabins and I was positive that this was going to be one long prank war!


End file.
